Reality be damned: iOS 7 wish list, continued

We received hundreds of comments and e-mails about what readers want for iOS.

Fantasizing about future iOS features is a pretty fun pastime, even if we know some of our wishes will take a while to come true. Last week, we published a list of features that the iOS-using Ars staff would like to see appear in the next major release of the operating system, and the reader reaction was huge. In addition to the dozens of e-mails still pouring into my inbox, the discussion thread of that article had nearly 400 (and counting) comments from readers about what they would like to see in iOS 7.

After going through as many comments and e-mails as humanly possible, we gathered together some of the best suggestions from the Ars readership. So read on to see what you told us were your most desired features for iOS, reality be damned:

Build upon Siri

A number of Ars readers like where Siri is going but want to see some improvements in order to make the virtual assistant more usable in everyday life. Ars reader iconmaster agreed with the staff's suggestion to allow third-party developers to access an API for Siri: "I use Siri all the time, but she could always do more. A third-party API would blow it right open of course; but even apart from that there is plenty for Apple to do."

Another reader going by the name martynpie feels that Apple could better handle situations where Siri can't get through the cell networks. "I want Siri to revert to the old voice control when it can't get decent 3G reception. If I'm driving, and I want to 'call Dave' I just get a long pause, then an apology because I work out in the sticks," martynpie wrote.

"An option for Maps to use the same Bluetooth audio connection that Siri and Phone do would be nice," added Dave Kauffman via e-mail. Kauffman explained that when his iPhone is paired with his car's audio system, the radio is automatically muted when he uses Siri. But when he asks for directions in Maps, the spoken directions are "only audible if I put my radio into Bluetooth Audio mode. I’d like to see the turn by turn directions mute my radio like the phone does and speak the directions. It would be more seamless. This may partly be just poor implementation of BT audio in my car's audio system but I’d think if they give an option to output audio the same way phone and Siri currently does, it would be more flexible."

Device settings on a per-app basis

A couple readers made a point of voicing their annoyance that iOS doesn't currently allow per-app settings changes for what might otherwise be considered universal settings.

"I would like to have different contrast on different applications," Ars reader Gaute said via e-mail. "Most of the time my phone is on almost lowest light setting as my eyes don't like the light. However when I'm [showing] a picture, which I frequently do, I have to first change the light setting and then back again. It pisses me off."

Another reader, Scott Andrews, echoed Gaute's sentiments. "One little thing I'd love to see is the ability to enable/disable spelling auto-correct on an app by app basis," Andrews wrote via e-mail. "I'm an amateur (wannabe) chef who uses a recipe manager and a to-do list app for grocery lists. There are a lot of culinary and ingredient terms that are not in iOS's dictionary and that these apps frustratingly try to auto-correct. I'd like to leave auto-correct turned on for mail and messages, but off for my recipe manager and to-do list. It's a little thing, but it would put an end to a major source of frustration."

Make good on that FaceTime promise

Some of you may remember when FaceTime was first introduced in 2010: then-CEO Steve Jobs claimed Apple would make FaceTime into an open, industry-wide standard. FaceTime is certainly based on some open standards, such as SIP for VoIP calls, H.264 and AAC for video and audio, and so on. But Apple has not published the specifications for FaceTime yet, and the service is still only supported on iOS devices and Macs running the FaceTime app. Many of you have mentioned this to us numerous times in the past, but Ars user pontavignon has had enough of it.

"Steve Jobs, when he announced FaceTime, promised that it would become a standard. Time to deliver," pontavignon wrote. "Include FaceTime in iTunes so it runs on Windows and OS X machines. Add Linux while you're at it. Make FaceTime available as an app on Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry, with use requiring an Apple ID."

"Upgrade FaceTime to permit calling in either voice or video modes, easily switching between either," pontavignon continued. "Allow the leaving of either voice or video messages in case of missed calls. Allow FaceTime to display inset videos, Keynote presentations, or Pages and Numbers files. Where permitted (like in the US and Canada) allow FaceTime to assign a mobile phone number so as to permit VOIP calls to landline phones and mobiles that don't have FaceTime on the receiving end."

He went on to point out that Skype (owned by Microsoft) is almost there, and Google Voice is also coming close (but has yet to go international). "The time is now to do what Jobs said and launch first, or prepare to settle for another 'me too,'" pontavignon said.

Make various parts of the UI easier to use

It should come as no surprise that there were numerous suggestions from the Ars readership on how to improve the iOS user interface.

Christopher Dildy suggested via e-mail that Apple finally adopt live icons for the appropriate apps. "I would like to look at the weather icon and see a preview of the weather with a glance. You could show a thunder cloud with lighting and the temperature of 68 degrees. The calendar app shows the day of the month, why can’t the clock app show the time (thinking about it now the time is at the top of the screen, but why not anyway?)" he wrote.

Dildy—and numerous others—also wanted the Notification Center buttons to be bigger. "Make the Notification Center more finger friendly. The X and Clear button are awfully small and run counter to the iOS usability guidelines," Dildy wrote. Commenter Lepton68 agreed: "It's a pain going through the notification list clearing them out. At least make that removal X bigger, as the UI guidelines say!"

Lepton68 pointed out that Notification Center could use a number of improvements, and not just to those tiny buttons. "Notifications need to be able to expire. In Settings, [under] notification settings for an app, add a setting that says to remove the notification after an hour, a day, a week, and so on. With many apps, notifications become moot after a while. How long does my weather app need to keep the notification that a storm is coming a week ago?" he asked.

And then there were those who just want to see more stuff in the Notification Center: "I would really like access to some of the settings in the Notification Center pull down instead of stock quotes. I would love Wi-Fi on/off and the brightness setting," gt40spec wrote.

But it's not all about Notification Center. "I wish they would add the ability to delete/clear multiple SMS conversations at once," an Ars reader going by Hytes wrote. "You've had the ability to do this forever in mail, why not for messages? I get tons of automated alerts from work and I hate having to clear them off one at a time."

Then there are those who want to see a better handling of common and open apps. "I would like a close all Apps option. Closing dozens of Apps one at a time isn’t very efficient," Dave Kauffman wrote via e-mail. "Also, give me a mode where it automatically moves my most used apps to the home screen for me," added Flawed.

Finally, marcusj0015 summarized the feeling experienced by millions of users who like to use their iPhones and iPod touches in landscape mode: "HORIZONTAL FUCKING SPRINGBOARD."

126 Reader Comments

Why do people keep asking for ways to close apps. I thought it's already been said that removing apps from that list does not have any effect on whether they're running or not, it simply removes them from the list for visual purposes. Even the guy at an Apple store once told me I had to remove stuff from there to keep the phone running well and I thought he was full of shit. So people actually do this?

Because closing apps does free up memory and allow it to run smoother. Anyone that's had a jb phone with SBSettings on it knows this.

I have to say that this is better than the last article on the same topic but still suffers from the same problem.

Most of these "wants" are basically "geek wants." The average user doesn't give a rats behind about skeuomorphism or many of the topics brought up here. I know this is a tech website so that's kind of to be expected, but this kind of navel-gazing is really quite pointless.

If the changes that are coming with iOS 7 were actually predictable by run-of-the-mill tech reporters on tech blogs like this one, Apple would be in serious trouble because there is nothing here that the dweebs at Google haven't thought of and some of it just appeared in Blackberry's new OS this morning.

These are mostly tired, *old* ideas. I expect Apple instead to actually *surprise* us, as they usually do and put in features that cannot be predicted by head-in-the-sand techie types.

And Ars readers are typically geeky. It is what Ars reader wants after all.

And a lot of the stuff mentioned is a part of Android or some app adds the functionality. If you want that much control, try out Android. But you have to give up what you invested into iOS (wish companies would play nice and allow cross platform downloads), unique Apple apps, streamlined apple experience and exclusive third party apps.

I'd like a home screen button that could toggle airplane mode. In general - it would be nice if we could promote any toggle-setting we want to the home screen as an icon.

Currently, the home screen has a button to start the camera. As someone whose employer forces the use of strong passwords on the lock screen, I would like to have access to a longer list of built-in applications that do not risk exposing personal information. For example being able to start the calculator, compass, voice memo, notes and mapping apps (the latter without visibility into your contacts list). Toggles for airplane mode and Wi-Fi would be very nice, as would (finally!) a way to toggle the LED camera flash. (It is a part of many apps in the store, why can't a simple version be included with the OS?)

Extreme emphasis on such boring OS. It's almost like squeezing water out of a rock. If you are uncomfortable on such OS that does not provide your needs, simple stupid needs for years, why not switch to other platforms? This iOS 7 wish list is getting quite ridiculous. But of course, the horde of sheep to downvote in denial and disgust typically found in Ars. Vote away sheep.

I can't imagine why any techie would use an iDevice. They're great for the average person...I finally talked my mom and sister into getting an iPhone and they love them because they're designed so ANYONE can use them. I had iPhones for a long time and could only tolerate the limitations because I always JB'd. Now that Android has matured, I'll never use another iDevice again.

Extreme emphasis on such boring OS. It's almost like squeezing water out of a rock. If you are uncomfortable on such OS that does not provide your needs, simple stupid needs for years, why not switch to other platforms? This iOS 7 wish list is getting quite ridiculous. But of course, the horde of sheep to downvote in denial and disgust typically found in Ars. Vote away sheep.

Android is not just an open customizable version of iOS bud. iOS is actually, you know, good.

Extreme emphasis on such boring OS. It's almost like squeezing water out of a rock. If you are uncomfortable on such OS that does not provide your needs, simple stupid needs for years, why not switch to other platforms? This iOS 7 wish list is getting quite ridiculous. But of course, the horde of sheep to downvote in denial and disgust typically found in Ars. Vote away sheep.

Android is not just an open customizable version of iOS bud. iOS is actually, you know, good.

PS. downvoting me doesn't make android suck less

Android? Oh yes, that's one platform of many out there as an option. Didn't specifically mention any but whatever.

How can you do this with a file system? Evernote uses SQLite databases to store its notes and tags and more, since the 30 years old concept of a "file system" just isn't the right thing for this and may other applications. How do you think a file manager is going to help you here? And do you browse your emails in the file system? Do you browse them by folders and filenames?

nathanziarek wrote:

If we end up with a "document manager" that's little more than a symlinked folder of files, we've failed. There has to be a better way than what they invented a billion years ago with papyrus.

I'm not speaking of a "symlinked folder" of files, I'm speaking of abstracting your documents and media away from the 30 years old concept of files and folders. Tags are better than folders and an app that has some idea of metadata and how to use them to display something meaningful to the user is better than forcing the user to dig through the underwear of the OS. Very much like Gmail isn't showing you just the files and folders on Google's servers but something that is actually useful for what you want to do with your email.

The file system of my Nexus 7 is a mess. I have to dig around between folders with map tiles from one app, fonts from another and templates from a third. In most cases I even have no idea which app created these files and folders or if it is even still installed and if I can safely delete them. Windows meanwhile is hiding lots of files and folders from the user in a desperate attempt to keep up some appearance of order. The file system as a common ground to drop things to the ground for both code and the user is a bad idea in everything but computers used by people who know every single gear in their system and what it is for.

Apple has recognized that problem very well. They just failed to come up with a solution to it.

I would love to see Search and Settings access added to the "App Switcher" when I double click the home button. If I have 7 screens full of apps I have to go backward 8 screensin order to access Search. It should be universal with immediate access in a click or two.

The search screen is already just two clicks away. From any homescreen one click will return you to the first homescreen, another click from there (or swiping to the left) will get you to the search screen.

Extreme emphasis on such boring OS. It's almost like squeezing water out of a rock. If you are uncomfortable on such OS that does not provide your needs, simple stupid needs for years, why not switch to other platforms? This iOS 7 wish list is getting quite ridiculous. But of course, the horde of sheep to downvote in denial and disgust typically found in Ars. Vote away sheep.

I think if Ars would come with an wish list for Android I'd be able to come up with a really long list of improvements for Android, too.

Yes, there are many things iOS is lacking that Android has, but there are also many things Android is lacking that iOS has. Same for WP7/8.

If you really think that iOS is just lacking things and Android not you either don't know any of both very well or you're trolling.

I can't imagine why any techie would use an iDevice. They're great for the average person...I finally talked my mom and sister into getting an iPhone and they love them because they're designed so ANYONE can use them. I had iPhones for a long time and could only tolerate the limitations because I always JB'd. Now that Android has matured, I'll never use another iDevice again.

Well, I am a techie and I use an iPhone. The reason is easy: I love to have a device that is NOT a computer for a change. I have to tame all kinds of computers and software and systems all day long and if I would have to keep another one in my pocket too, I would go mad. It's an appliance and that's what I want to have in this role.

Then there are those who want to see a better handling of common and open apps. "I would like a close all Apps option. Closing dozens of Apps one at a time isn’t very efficient," Dave Kauffman wrote via e-mail. "Also, give me a mode where it automatically moves my most used apps to the home screen for me," added Flawed.

Also an option: not mis-using the close app feature. That's only there for when a single app is misbehaving. Apps in the background aren't taking up memory or CPU time in the background unless iOS explicitly allows them to. Most of the apps in a long list aren't even running.

There is no point in methodically closing all your apps on iOS.

Do you hear yourself? The CPU thing is arguable, but they're probably using either no CPU, or VERY little, but the RAM thing? Dude... how do you think the apps switch so quickly? They're in RAM...

The only thing I would add would be a boost to the file size limit for apps. Currently, apps are limited to 2GB but with Apple releasing higher capacity devices (like the 128GB iPad), it would be nice if this got lifted to 4GB. I have several games on my iPad that brush up on the current limit and I know that their developers had to limit visual quality in order to stay under 2GB (lower quality images and videos for example in Riven for iPad).

What could you POSSIBLY need 4GB's worth of app for? Use SVG for the artwork (assuming iOS can render SVG in a timely manner.)

How about automatic updating of applications instead of always having to go to the app store to download them? Even better would be controlling the updating on a per application basis - that way only the ones you want constantly updated would be. They already got rid of the login prompt for downloading updates - it would eliminate one extra step.

As a user setting that might be OK but as a default it will never happen because there are too many issues on mobile devices related to bandwidth, power and use setting to make this a practical consideration for most people, who rather not:

(a) Have the phone decide to use an expensive wireless connection to dowload when they would rather wait to use WiFi or broadband via a PC

(b) Run a power-intensive operation when they need to conserve power for normal use when outside

(c) Interrupt use of the phone for an installation

Or, they could simply have it non auto-update while on cellular, and while on wifi have it autoupdate, it's simple, Apple already knows when the device is on wifi or cell, it'd be simple, just poll that interface for a boolean that basically said cellular = 1/0.

I want lots of things, but the most creative one I could come up with is subtle background icon changing. It'd be awesome if apps could change their icons to reflect their status, so you could glance at an icon (or see it while sharing some data to it) and know what's up.

Some examples have been given before, like Weather and Clock, but I think it should go even further. iBooks could show relative progress in your current book, or a stack of books if you're not currently reading one. Mail could show a more noticeable envelope if there's an unread message from a VIP. Phone could be turned downwards if you haven't missed any calls. Messages could show some generic text if there's an unread message. Podcast could highlight its broadcast rings if there's a new episode.

And that's just Apple apps. Task managers could subtly change their checkmarks from red to green as you complete the day's tasks. Games could add icon decorations as you complete achievements. Cooking apps could change based on whether or not you've planned a meal for the day. Creativity's the limit.

Well, not really. Apple's the limit, and I'm sure they'd have to enforce some restrictions. Still, this is the second-coolest iOS improvement I've dreamed of, topped only by an Automator section in the Settings app.

Do you hear yourself? The CPU thing is arguable, but they're probably using either no CPU, or VERY little, but the RAM thing? Dude... how do you think the apps switch so quickly? They're in RAM...

Yes, apps remain in RAM, but if an app isn't active, all of its memory becomes available to the system and other apps.

When you leave an app, it loses all privileges to CPU and RAM. When you switch back, it recovers anything that wasn't commandeered by other tasks, and then restores what was lost. Pretty much the only thing regular apps can do in the background is audio playback/recording. Even push notifications are handled by the OS, as far as I understand.

Users gain nothing by micromanaging their "open" apps, because these apps aren't open. They're just there.

I think some of the feature requests are good — they show real usability problems. But on Per-App Device Settings I think more elegant solutions can be found within the existing iOS paradigms.

Quote:

"I would like to have different contrast on different applications," Ars reader Gaute said via e-mail. "Most of the time my phone is on almost lowest light setting as my eyes don't like the light. However when I'm [showing] a picture, which I frequently do, I have to first change the light setting and then back again. It pisses me off."

Sounds like there is a market for a photo viewing app with a built-in brightness slider. To any developers who would like to try this, you can set the brightness in code like this: [[UIScreen mainScreen] setBrightness:1.0];

Quote:

Another reader, Scott Andrews, echoed Gaute's sentiments. "One little thing I'd love to see is the ability to enable/disable spelling auto-correct on an app by app basis,"

You can add words to the global autocomplete dictionary. Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Add New Shortcut... then, instead of adding a shortcut, just add the word to the "Phrase" section and leave the shortcut field empty.

So I quickly scanned all these posts and my #1 pet peeve wasn't mentioned :-). I'm no fan of the default keyboard on IOS devices. Many passwords I have to enter involve numbers, and my engineering background requires I type numbers all the time. It's a total pain dealing with that puny keyboard and bouncing back and forth between characters and numbers. I'd like the option of having more rows of keys and less application screen above it. Or how about when in landscape mode maybe having a numeric pad on the side. In addition, how about making typing on that keyboard more efficient - I recall seeing a wonderful video on something called the Hooper selection method (or whatever).

Also, I'd like to second the comment by Samwyse - I too work for a company that forces me to have a lock screen with a strong password so that if I lose my iPhone then people just can read all my confidential corporate email. Being able to access harmless apps (like the Phone!!) without the bother of entering a password would make my life better.

Make the volume control rocker button change depending on how the system is oriented. In my mind I think of 'low' as being to the left or bottom and 'high' as being on the right or top. If the screen orientation is changed I would like the buttons to change with it. Drives me nuts having to guess which button I have to press to adjust volume up/down when I have to tilt the screen.

Just seems like something Apple would have at least given us as an option if not thought of it first as a default.

1. Upward swipe from bezel to access running apps (as in downward swipe for notifications). The icons should readily have the minus button for kill rather than long-press and jiggling.2. Have a kill all running/suspended apps feature.3. Widgets.

Extreme emphasis on such boring OS. It's almost like squeezing water out of a rock. If you are uncomfortable on such OS that does not provide your needs, simple stupid needs for years, why not switch to other platforms? This iOS 7 wish list is getting quite ridiculous. But of course, the horde of sheep to downvote in denial and disgust typically found in Ars. Vote away sheep.

I've read some of your other posts. Maybe you won't need to invite downvotes at the end of each one of them if you didn't write insulting things every time without adding to the conversation.

Make the volume control rocker button change depending on how the system is oriented. In my mind I think of 'low' as being to the left or bottom and 'high' as being on the right or top. If the screen orientation is changed I would like the buttons to change with it. Drives me nuts having to guess which button I have to press to adjust volume up/down when I have to tilt the screen.

Just seems like something Apple would have at least given us as an option if not thought of it first as a default.

Agreed! One of the ROMs that I was toying with on my Android tablet did this... It surprised me the first couple of times I adjusted the volume, but rapidly became much more natural to tap left for quieter and right for louder, since it agreed with the direction of the on-screen slider.

Some of the more recent high-end games even suggest closing all apps to ensure the best experience. This is because the game wants to have as much of the phones resources as possible to keep framerates and response times optimized. Some games will choke if you have a bunch of apps on the task list. If you clear the list you will see an improvement - though you may need close the game and restart it.

I must be playing the wrong games. The only one I can recall that did this is a couple of years old and I eventually deleted it because (a) it was too much trouble to clean house for it, and (b) it wasn't really that much fun. Needing to close the game and restart it points toward memory fragmentation being the underlying problem.

the_frakker wrote:

A lot of times when family has complained to me about sluggish performance on their iOS devices, I recommend to them to close all of their apps and restart their device. I don't remember one time being told that it did not work to improve performance.

If you're going to restart the device, why close everything?

the_frakker wrote:

While Apple wants us to believe we don't need to manage our apps, there is a need for it and it's part of the reason Apple added the task manager in the first place.

The task list is also an MRU list. I hardly ever stray off the first home screen, instead using Spotlight to find and launch apps (although Siri is getting a lot of that love these days) and the task manager to rapidly switch between recently used apps. I've had app crash (proven by their requiring re-initialization at startup) and they've remained on the task list. (BTW, I suspect that initialization is why things take time to start up and why returning to a previously opened app is so fast. Once an app is loaded, the initialized memory can be swapped out, greatly reducing the footprint; upon return you just reload the memory instead of revalidating Facebook credentials, etc.)

I find it very interesting that this article and past wishlists are basically "give iOS what we have in Android". Look, I'm really not trolling here, and iOS has changed a lot since its first version, with notifications and multitasking and etc, but iOS is still going to be iOS. If per-App config is such a deal breaker, I honestely think you should consider getting out of iOS. As far as I know, the first and foremost principle of iOS is: "as simple as possible", the famous "phone my grandma can use", and things as per-App config would increase the complexity of system considerably. Same with the apps layout, it would be a major rewrite of the apps to get rid of the skeuomorphism and I don't think that's a priority for Apple. I think that people must realize that the iPhone is just a phone, and there are options in the smartphone market, such as Android, WP 7/8 and recently BB10. So if something really bothers you that much, it is easier to go to a different system than hope the Apple will completely rewirite something that is selling like crazy since it came out, and together with the iPad, has been 75% of Apple's income. They don't want to change a winning team.

It sounds like a lot of these people want Android. Some of these things should be implemented at the app level too, e.g. turning off auto correct in a recipes app.

Some of the requests are valid but the bulk of them are really niche, better left up to individual apps, or things that just don't really mesh with the iOS philosophy. I sympathize with the people who want these things–we all want our perfect device tailored just for ourselves–but I feel that few of them are actually widely useful, well thought out features.

Some of the more recent high-end games even suggest closing all apps to ensure the best experience. This is because the game wants to have as much of the phones resources as possible to keep framerates and response times optimized. Some games will choke if you have a bunch of apps on the task list. If you clear the list you will see an improvement - though you may need close the game and restart it.

I must be playing the wrong games. The only one I can recall that did this is a couple of years old and I eventually deleted it because (a) it was too much trouble to clean house for it, and (b) it wasn't really that much fun. Needing to close the game and restart it points toward memory fragmentation being the underlying problem.

That's why people are asking for a way to "clean house" with a single action. I only added the part about restarting the game because not all games are created equally and some may suffer depending on how it was developed.

I think Infinity Blade II recommends closing all other apps. Maybe one of the GTA titles...

samwyse wrote:

the_frakker wrote:

A lot of times when family has complained to me about sluggish performance on their iOS devices, I recommend to them to close all of their apps and restart their device. I don't remember one time being told that it did not work to improve performance.

If you're going to restart the device, why close everything?

To free up as many resources as possible before restarting the device. If you just restart then when the OS comes back up the task list is still full of the apps that you had open before the restart. It doesn't forget. So clearing up the task list and then restarting ensures that those resources are all freed up during the restart.

samwyse wrote:

the_frakker wrote:

While Apple wants us to believe we don't need to manage our apps, there is a need for it and it's part of the reason Apple added the task manager in the first place.

The task list is also an MRU list. I hardly ever stray off the first home screen, instead using Spotlight to find and launch apps (although Siri is getting a lot of that love these days) and the task manager to rapidly switch between recently used apps. I've had app crash (proven by their requiring re-initialization at startup) and they've remained on the task list. (BTW, I suspect that initialization is why things take time to start up and why returning to a previously opened app is so fast. Once an app is loaded, the initialized memory can be swapped out, greatly reducing the footprint; upon return you just reload the memory instead of revalidating Facebook credentials, etc.)

I'm not going to argue what iOS actually does since I don't have much care to look into that at the moment and it doesn't really matter.

If you don't want to clear you task list and you don't see any performance issues when leaving all your apps on the list, then it doesn't matter.

The whole point of me even posting about this was because someone asked what the point of clearing the task list was. Which, from my understanding, is that it frees up resources and speeds up the device. I have seen this in real-world scenarios improve performance on my own devices. I had my iPhone 4 jailbroken at one point and I had an app that displayed how much RAM was available in the status bar. I could see memory being cleared when removing apps from the task list.

The simple point is that it would be nice to have a faster way of clearing the entire list other than having to wobble click every app on the list.

My personal preference would be to move the task list to a second page of the Notification Center so that more apps can be seen on the screen at once and it would provide a place to put a button to clear the entire list.

I'd settle for just being able to toggle Wi-Fi on and off without digging through the settings.Come to think of it, some kind of functionality to make an icon out of any settings toggle would be nice. I know I could jail break but since AT&T started blocking tethering I haven't really bothered with it.

On my Galaxy SII, I just bought an app called WiFi Jumper. It automatically switches between known WiFi networks when another network is 20% stronger. And it switches off WiFi completely when I leave the known area, as judged by the cell-phone tower transponder IDs so it doesn't use GPS (which uses more battery).

So around my house, my phone automatically switches between the networks. And when I drive away, about a mile down the road, WiFi shuts itself off. Love it! Significant battery savings. Major automation. Best $1 I spent in recent memory.

The thing is, Android lets your do that. This kind of stuff is completely normal on Android, and there is little or nothing you can put on an iOS wish-list that isn't either provided by the OS, or is already done by an app, because the app is allowed the kind of access needed, and the Terms Of Service doesn't ban doing anything to improve the device itself.

On Android, there truly is an app for that. On iOS, not so much. My wife is so very depressed about her iPhone 4. And I only have a Galaxy SII. I have two iPads myself, and I'm completely "meh". I haven't even arranged the icons properly. I only use them for cross-platform development. And shopping list in the kitchen.

How can you do this with a file system? Evernote uses SQLite databases to store its notes and tags and more, since the 30 years old concept of a "file system" just isn't the right thing for this and may other applications. How do you think a file manager is going to help you here? And do you browse your emails in the file system? Do you browse them by folders and filenames?

nathanziarek wrote:

If we end up with a "document manager" that's little more than a symlinked folder of files, we've failed. There has to be a better way than what they invented a billion years ago with papyrus.

I'm not speaking of a "symlinked folder" of files, I'm speaking of abstracting your documents and media away from the 30 years old concept of files and folders. Tags are better than folders and an app that has some idea of metadata and how to use them to display something meaningful to the user is better than forcing the user to dig through the underwear of the OS. Very much like Gmail isn't showing you just the files and folders on Google's servers but something that is actually useful for what you want to do with your email.

The file system of my Nexus 7 is a mess. I have to dig around between folders with map tiles from one app, fonts from another and templates from a third. In most cases I even have no idea which app created these files and folders or if it is even still installed and if I can safely delete them. Windows meanwhile is hiding lots of files and folders from the user in a desperate attempt to keep up some appearance of order. The file system as a common ground to drop things to the ground for both code and the user is a bad idea in everything but computers used by people who know every single gear in their system and what it is for.

Apple has recognized that problem very well. They just failed to come up with a solution to it.

I agree they defined a problem and failed so far to solve it. That may be changing. Montreal-based Maya-Systems just announced Apple has purchased 18 of its patents. Maya's main product is a combination file-manager, sharing platform, cloud-storage and workflow-management tool that uses axis-based tech plus tags for storage, finding and retrieval of photos, videos, documents, sound files, etc. worth keeping an eye on.

Do you hear yourself? The CPU thing is arguable, but they're probably using either no CPU, or VERY little, but the RAM thing? Dude... how do you think the apps switch so quickly? They're in RAM...

Yes, apps remain in RAM, but if an app isn't active, all of its memory becomes available to the system and other apps.

When you leave an app, it loses all privileges to CPU and RAM. When you switch back, it recovers anything that wasn't commandeered by other tasks, and then restores what was lost. Pretty much the only thing regular apps can do in the background is audio playback/recording. Even push notifications are handled by the OS, as far as I understand.

Users gain nothing by micromanaging their "open" apps, because these apps aren't open. They're just there.

This is what Apple says. But reality is different.

You wouldn't have to be able to close all apps in that list, because only the most recent few will be causing whatever the problem is, but I do (reproducibly) find that stuttering is fixed if I close a recently used memory-hogging app. Also, sometimes an app won't launch. There's a similar fix (close the last 3-4 apps in the list).

"File and data sharing between apps" - another related improvement would be to enable shared file transfer and exchange capabilities. For instance, Stanza can fetch a file from HTTP, DownloadManager allows files to be pushed by opening a local HTTP server, some apps have built-in browser downloader... Such capabilities should be shared, so all apps can benefit from common transfer methods.

I would like more efficient shortcuts and not leaving things just "good enough". I like the feature in Touchwiz (yes, Touchwiz) where you can drag the pagination dots on the homescreen to quickly switch homescreens. Even Blackberry 10 allows you to click on the dot to jump to another homescreen.

I think adding the date next to the time or battery percentage on the status bar would be a great help. Often times when i am in a call, or another app for that matter, i hate having to back out to view the date. I know often times it can be clustered, but i rarely turn on bluetooth and such so i have plenty of room. It should give one the option just like it does to show the actual battery percentage!

I feel like I'm going crazy. How can you write 2 stories about ios wish lists and not even mention mail? After 6 years of tweaking things, could we have basic functionality like "select all" or "mark all unread" or "mark as spam?" Seriously! "Select All" is a mature technology.So am I crazy? Are these ridiculous requests? Am I the only one that reads email on an iDevice? Half a dozen comments are demanding a live icon for the weather app when we still can't mark an email as spam?

I would like Apple to add the powerful search features from Mail in Mac OS X Mountain Lion to iOS 7. Don't limit me to searching To, From, and Subject. Let me search the entire body of every message, and let me utilize the search tokens that are used in Mountain Lion.